This invention relates to a character reader for recognizing printed characters, and more specifically to a system for recognizing printed characters from images including ruled lines and then generating character codes, and to a system for forming tables by controlling positions and types of ruled lines forming them.
Recently, with advances in computers and databases, various kinds of character recognition systems have been realized which utilize an image reader to read printed characters, recognize them as characters and symbols thereof, and then encode them for storing in a memory.
With such a system, the position of a ruled line may be erroneously recognized and the recognition results may be output without and adjustment, causing display misplacement or breaks in ruled lines or frame lines. This occurs because the number and width of characters are different in each row and column of the table. Therefore, a technology is required for recognizing ruled lines as well as characters. To meet this requirement, it is necessary to determine the position and type of a ruled line of a table according to the recognition result of characters and tables, and then to appropriately form a table by preventing misplaced frame lines, etc.
With the increasing world-wide use of word processors, most office work now involves preparation of documents with a lot of tables. In forming a large or complicated table, the operation of pre-setting the positions of vertical and horizontal frame lines is often troublesome to the operator. Therefore, it is preferable to complete a table by determining the number and size of items in it according to a series of inputted character codes and then automatically determining the positions of its vertical and horizontal lines.